Film Versions Of The Novels example essay topic

Compare and Contrast the ways in which the film version of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and The Color Purple treat the political and social questions raised in the corresponding novels. Alice Walker and Alan Sillitoe novels are an illustrative tale of our society inevitable course, and the social and political issues prevalent in that period. These issues have sometimes placed these books in precarious positions where they create controversy in these same societies. So controversial, that the film versions are not created and until years later when the political and social questions raised in these novels can be easily accepted by the critics. Socially conscious filmmakers make these period novels into film to give us a broader insight or to capitalize on the success of the novel. However, film versions are not always successful in depicting the political and social questions raised in the novels but filmmakers have felt socially committed to not only to tell the story, but to engage the mind and senses as well.

The films The Color Purple and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner are filled with exploitation, Homosexuality, rape, domestic abuse, racism, and class struggles. Tony Richardson's film, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner touches on a number of relevant issues during the period in which it is set, including the struggles of working class, and the exploitation of the protagonist Colin Smith and the other boys in the borstal. During this period, there was a division in Britain into two distinct classes: the rich upper class and the poor working class. In the novel Smith elaborates his theory of "them" and "us" otherwise characterized as the law abiding middle and upper class majority and the substantial poor minority working class. In fact, the film uses location to show us the social issues of classes in 1950's Britain. Evidence of this appears in the scene where Colin and Mike take two girls onto a hill, while dark clouds of smoke billow in the background.

The pollution from the factories was clearly visible in the film and we are left to wonder if this could have contributed to his father's cancer. In order to support his family, Colin's father toiled in the local factory for a measly paycheck. Colin wishing to avoid the life which was to be his destiny refuses a similar job at the same factory and evens burns the portions of his father's death benefits in protest of the system. He feels trapped in his environment with what seems to be no positive outlook. He will either have to work in a factory or become a career criminal. The novel does not show us Colin's real life situation, but instead shows us how certain situation is perceived and his thoughts on various events in his life.

"I'd never known a family as happy as ours was in that couple of months when we'd got all the money we needed" (21). But in the film we are shown how disgusted he was with his situation, when he decides to burn the money given to him by his mother after his father's death. We see a rebellious young man driven to the depth of despair to which one can sink because of poverty and we almost begin to feel sorry for him. The persistent desire for money, implanted in him by his mother, compels Colin to rob a bakery and he is sent away to a Borstal for rehabilitation. Both the book and the movie raise questions about the intentions of the governor. The governor uses his political aspirations to exploit Colin and the boys at the Borstal for his own personal gain.

He wants his Borstal to be known as having the best athletes and being the first to compete against a private school. Colin's one great talent, his ability in running singles him out for the governor's preferential treatment. In the film, the governors singles him out for polite conversation and upgrades his work detail from cleaning machine parts in a small shed to working in an outdoor garden with fresh air. The film seems brighter and the disposition of the boys change, they are now joking around and everyone seems to be in a joyous mood except Stacy, the head of Duke house, and the one time favorite of the governor. The only hint we are given in the novel of Colin's preferred status is when he's allowed to do his long distance running without a guard supervising and when " the governors talks to me when he comes on his rounds, almost as he'd talk to his prize race horse" (12).

He realizes with all the talks of honesty, "we want hard honest work and we want good athletics (10) is a farce and a means to an end. The governor has told him to be "honest" but he sees that he is more honest than the governor. The governor is referring to honesty as a respect for other peoples property but Smith takes "honesty" to mean being true to one's principles and personal integrity. He is aware that to win the race would be help the governor in his political aspirations of putting his Borstal on the map and making a name for himself, and to lose he would remain true to himself. At the end of the film we are not shown what happens to Colin when he loses the race on purpose. We know only that he is a success at beating the governor at his own game.

However, the novel shows that even though he was successful in that sense he was not successful at being rehabilitated, but goes back to a life of crime with the intention of not being caught. In the film, The Color Purple, Steven Spielberg chooses to include and exclude highly controversial social issues raised in the novel. For instance, in the novel Celia speaks of being beaten by Mr. "sometime beat me anyhow, I say, whether I do what he say or not" (66). She is also physically and sexually abused by the man who she thinks is her father but we are not given any evidence of this in the film. There are no black eyes, no bruises and no broken arms however, the physical abuse permeate the novel. Mr. only stops beating Celie after Shug tell him not to.

Sophia is incensed when she found out that Celie was the one who told Harpo to beat her. The physical abuse is an area where Spielberg seems to tread lightly. The lesbian relationship between Celie and Shug is not explored at all in the film. It is only implied during the intimate interaction between Celie and Shug.

When Celie meets Shug for the first time she is beside herself when she realizes that her face is a mess and she's wearing clothes, in fact the look in Celie's eyes throughout the film when she gazes at Shug is one of a love struck teenager. Racism is another social issue which does not get a lot of play in the film. The novel goes into detail to tell us of the plight of the Olinka Tribe in Africa whose village is ultimately destroyed by the road builders and who is eventually forced to pay rent on the land that belonged to them for centuries. We are introduced to Doris Baines and her African grandson.

There she uses her wealth to set up a reciprocal arrangement that in fact reflects her political power to buy whatever she wants. But she does not use her power and money to make the world aware of the plight of the Olinka tribe or any other tribe throughout Africa. She has written several books on the way of life of Akee tribe for her own personal gain. Spielberg omits this from his film version and we are left to wonder if this is due to the strained race relations of African American and whites at the time the film was made. Squeaks rape is an intensely and highly political act. Squeaks rape exposes the denial of kinship at the heart of race relation in the south.

Mr. Reveals the kinship relations between whites and blacks in the community that it is assumed that someone would be related by blood to the warden. That someone, of course, is Squeak. Hopeful that she will be able to gain Sophia's release from the warden on the basis of kinship, the other dress Squeak up like a white woman with instructions to make him " see the Hodges in you" (82). This was never addressed in the film. In conclusion, both film versions of the novels are well made commentary on the social and political issues raised in the corresponding novels, which are present in today's day society. They are films have a strong visual style, with an important story that wouldn't normally receive attention.

Although, some of the important issues were not addressed in the film we realize that there are certain issues that our country and the world are not quite ready to deal with..